Synopses & Reviews
This book offers an imaginative new way of understanding the relationship between syntax and meter in Old English verse. It challenges the view that Old English poetry is composed in loose syntax to compensate for the strict requirements of prosody, such as meter and alliteration. The author proposes a "prosodical" syntax to replace the syntactic laws of Hans Kuhn through its greater accuracy and wider range of application. She formulates three concise rules that apply to the entire Old English poetic corpus.
Synopsis
Offers a new way of understanding the relationship between syntax and metre in Old English poetry.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-198) and index.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction; 2. Hierarchy of verse-likeness; 3. Word classification; 4. Kuhn's laws and prosodical syntax; 5. Attached unstressed elements; 6. Detached unstressed elements; 7. Stressed elements; 8. Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.